The SEC is issuing new interpretation and guidance concerning proxy rules which were promulgated by Section 14 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This new guidance is the result of the SEC examining proxy voting advice provided by proxy advisory firms as possible solicitations under the federal proxy laws. In addition, the SEC has considered public comments on a variety of issues related to the proxy voting process, from numerous public concept releases to a 2018 Roundtable that invited the public to provide feedback on the use of proxy advisory firms and their activities.

On August 20th, the SEC staff released a group of Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (CD&Is) concerning the interactive data rules, including new interpretations regarding inline XBRL. This article contains a summary of the CD&Is, organized by topic groups as well as a list of the new questions and answers that were released on August 20th.

Both GoFiler Complete and GoXBRL have the tools necessary to create EDGAR filings in Inline XBRL. The process is the same in both applications and involves adding XBRL financial data to an HTML document using a patented technology called XDX. With XDX, you can add XBRL information to different types of HTML blocks which is then processed by the software to create EDGAR compliant XBRL.

XBRL US has posted a helpful Q&A on the new Inline XBRL (iXBRL) Cover Page tagging requirements for SEC filings.

With compliance dates approaching, reviewing the SEC’s mandate for operating companies and funds that they report their financial information in Inline XBRL (iXBRL) is important. These requirements date back to June 2018, when the SEC passed rules seeking to modernize and simplify financial reporting for these filers. Unlike traditional XBRL which produces a XML document containing only tagged, structured data that is difficult for a human reader to understand and interpret, iXBRL involves embedding XBRL data directly into an HTML filing so that the disclosure document is both human-readable as a formatted report of financial information and machine-readable since the tagged data can be collected and used in subsequent analyses in any number of ways. Using iXBRL improves the data’s usefulness, timeliness, and quality, which benefits investors, regulators, market participants, and other data consumers. Inline XBRL also reduces burdens and complexity to registrants and preparers as only one document containing both the formatted report and the structured data must be produced.

Starting with their first 10-Q filed for a fiscal period ending on or after June 15, large accelerated filers will be required to submit interactive data using Inline XBRL. Included in this transition are the new requirements, adopted by the SEC in March as part of the FAST Act Modernization and Simplification of Regulation S-K, to tag additional information that is visible on the cover page of Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and Form 8-K.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2019 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2018 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

The SEC’s Office of Financial Management Filing Fees announced the release of the web-based Registration Fee Estimator 1.2. Included in this release are all effective fee-bearing form types.

To aid filers avoid missing deadlines and reduce congestion around busy important filing dates, the SEC provides an anticipated peak filing schedule. Peak EDGAR filing times are estimated using historical data. The 2018 schedule is now available from the SEC.

The recent breach at the SEC illustrates how prevalent internet cyberattacks have become. They are a ubiquitous threat, inherent to the information exchange the internet provides. Often times with little warning or even indication that the event is occurring, hackers can infiltrate secure systems and access nonpublic information that could be exploited or damaging to multiple parties. Particularly when it comes to EDGAR, a great deal of sensitive, private information is regularly exchanged between companies and the SEC. Should this information be accessed before it’s appropriate, it could lead to all sorts of undesirable consequences. Even something as simple as prior knowledge of the type of form a company is in the process of filing can result in unwanted outcomes. Therefore, it’s essential that we as filers, filing agents, and other involved parties protect ourselves from unwanted intrusions.

On September 21st, the SEC approved sets of interpretive guidelines to assist companies in their efforts to comply with the pay ratio disclosure mandate. This mandate comes from Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and companies are required to begin making pay ratio disclosures in early 2018.

Starting as early as next month, accelerated filers will need to comply with new hyperlinking rules adopted by the SEC earlier this year. These form amendments now require companies who file registration statements or reports subject to the exhibit requirements under Item 601 of Regulation S-K or who file Forms F-10 or F-20 to include a hyperlink to each exhibit listed in the filing’s exhibit index. This is intended to make it simpler for investors and other interested parties to locate the exhibits included or referenced in a filing.